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Philly Music Fest: Man Man, Sun Ra Arkestra, and eight other bands to see

It’s now a fall in Philadelphia tradition: The Philly Music Festival, in its third year, gets underway Wednesday night at Milkboy Philly in Center City. The four night event then continues at two other venues around town

Man Man play the World Cafe Live on Saturday night as part of the third annual Philly Music Festival.
Man Man play the World Cafe Live on Saturday night as part of the third annual Philly Music Festival.Read moreCourtesy of the artist

It’s now a fall in Philadelphia tradition: The Philly Music Festival, in its third year, gets underway Wednesday night at Milkboy Philly in Center City. The four-night event then continues at two other venues around town.

With more than 20 bands playing — ranging from experimental rockers Man Man to space jazz explorers Sun Ra Arkestra to singer-songwriter Rosali to hip-hop crew Ill Doots — the PMF is neither a rock festival nor a hip-hop festival nor a folk festival.

It’s a Philadelphia festival. “The connecting factor is not genre: It’s geography,” says Gregory Seltzer, the founder of the nonprofit event who books bands into local “independent” venues not under the control of Live Nation or AEG Live, the nation’s two largest concert promoters.

This year’s PMF starts at Milkboy, then carries on at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown on Thursday with a bill headlined by indie rock quartet Speedy Ortiz, before shifting to the World Cafe Live on Friday and Saturday.

The fest is a fund-raiser for local music organizations, including Settlement Music School and Girls Rock Philly. Seltzer says $25,000 was raised in 2018, $10,000 more than the year before.

For the second year, a key part is Tech Tour, a free Friday afternoon event held at Guru Technologies in Center City that stresses connections between Philly music and tech start-ups.

Tech Tour is sold out, but there’s room available for (In)Side Hustle, two free panels at the World Cafe Live on Saturday afternoon on “The Business of Music” in Philly and “Promoting Your B(r)and.” (The parenthetical PMF game is strong.)

Seltzer, 43, is an attorney with Center City firm Ballard Spahr and the author of books about history and music in 1965 and 1968. He says that along with raising money, the festival’s goal is to “feed the scene.”

(In)Side Hustle will do that literally — with free food — while bringing together managers, bands, label owners, and all “the component parts” of the scene.

More info can be found at phlmusicfest.com. Meanwhile, here’s a list of 10 bands worth checking out.

Secret American. The effusive 1960s pop soul project of Derek Krzywicki. He fronted Philly band Cheers Elephant before relocating to Southern California, but his bandmates are based here. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Milk Boy Philly.

Sammus. The Philly rapper born Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo named herself for a hero of the Nintendo video game Metroid and completed her Ph.D. at Cornell this summer. Her most recent album is 2016’s Pieces in Space and she’s the subject of a documentary in the making called Enongo. 9 p.m. Thursday, Johnny Brenda’s.

Speedy Ortiz. The indie quartet formed in Northampton, Mass., is fronted by now Philadelphian guitarist and songwriter Sadie Dupuis, who also records as Sad13 and published Mouthguard, a book of poetry, last year. Last year’s excellent Twerp Verse is Speedy’s latest. One of the brightest lights among acts that have emigrated to the Philly scene in the past decade. 11 p.m. Thursday, Johnny Brenda’s.

Ali Awan. The Abington-based Turkish-American singer and guitarist who came up in Philly punk bands Ballistik and Jane Church was named a WXPN-FM (88.5) Artist to Watch earlier this year, and his by turns ruminative and rocking 2019 Butterfly EP shows off his rapidly evolving songwriting. 7:10 p.m. Friday, downstairs at World Cafe Live.

» READ MORE: Meet Ali Awan, the Philly rocker you should be listening to right now

Arnetta Johnson. Twenty-five-year old Camden horn player Johnson calls herself a “disruptor of jazz” and “that trumpet chic.” She’s built an impressive resume since graduating from the Berklee College of Music in 2016, backing up Beyonce and The Roots. She’ll be playing with her band SUNNY, which stands for Sounds Uplifting Nobility through Note and Youth. 7:50 p.m. Friday, upstairs at the World Cafe Live.

» READ MORE: At 25, this Camden trumpeter has toured with Beyonce, twice

RFA. The Philly rock-and-roll band fronted by Dan Cousart released a sterling self-titled debut in 2018 that hearkened back to the jolt that bands like The Strokes gave to the genre in the early ‘00s. 8:20 p.m. Friday, downstairs at the World Cafe Live.

Jeremiah Tall. With a burly voice and banjo, Jeremiah Tall is a Bucks County songwriter with a robust sound like a train barreling down the tracks. From Bares Bones is due Oct. 11. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, downstairs at World Cafe Live.

Petal. The songwriting outlet for Kiley Lotz, the Scranton singer-guitarist who performs with a rotating cast of backing musicians. 2018’s Magic’s Gone is an album of bummed-out lyrics and uplifting rock songs. 8:35 p.m. Saturday, World Cafe Live.

Sun Ra Arkestra. Since 1968, when Herman “Sonny” Blount moved his universe-expanding band to the city that he once called “death’s headquarters,” the Arkestra has been a Philadelphia treasure. They’re led by incomparable 95-year-old horn player Marshall Allen. 9:25 p.m. Saturday, World Cafe Live.

» READ MORE: Marshall Allen’s 95th birthday present? The reunion of Sounds of Liberation, a band that hasn’t all played together in four decades.

Man Man. Under the name Honus Honus, Ryan Kattner led avant-rock band Man Man through a decade’s worth of hijinks, starting in 2004. The band has been AWOL since On Oni Pond in 2013, but the now L.A.-based Kattner is leading it on the comeback trail. 10:35 p.m. Saturday, World Cafe Live.

MUSIC

Philly Music Fest

Wednesday through Saturday at Milkboy Philly, Johnny Brenda’s, and World Cafe Live. More info at phmmusicfest.com.